PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Neandertal genes alter neurodevelopment in modern human brain organoids

2021-02-11
(Press-News.org) Building modern human brain organoids with the Neanderthal variant of a gene has provided a glimpse into the way substitutions in this gene impacted our species' evolution. The ability to grow brain organoids with specific archaic genes provides a way to identify and evaluate the functional differences between the closely related genomes of hominin lineages and explore the evolutionary changes that underly the unique traits that set us as modern humans apart from our extinct relatives. While the genomes of modern humans and their archaic Neanderthal and Denisovan relatives are, in many respects, similar, the genetic differences between them are of particular interest, as they could inform on important traits for recent human evolution. For example, each contains NOVA1, an evolutionarily conserved gene known to play key roles in neurodevelopment and function. However, there are protein-coding differences between modern and archaic human variants. To evaluate the functional importance of NOVA1 variants, Cleber Trujillo and colleagues isolated the archaic NOVA1 gene from the Neandertal genome and used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to introduce the variant into human pluripotent stem cells. This allowed Trujillo et al. to generate modern human cortical organoids expressing the archaic variant. According to the results, the addition induced slower development and higher surface complexity in cortical organoids, as well as differences in the brain's electrophysical properties. The authors suggest that this genetic divergence may have had functional consequences for the evolutionary development of modern humans.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

The politics of synonyms

2021-02-11
Previous studies have shown people can identify the gender and race of a speaker based on the words chosen, but could a person identify something like political membership? A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found people are more successful at identifying language associated with Republican speech than Democratic speech patterns. The results are available in the February issue of the journal PLOS. "While other studies have shown that people can detect social categories like the race and gender of a speaker based word choice, ...

Risk factors associated with COVID-19 ICU admission or death in Argentina

2021-02-11
A nationwide analysis of data from the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina has identified factors associated with increased risk of death or admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) due to the disease, including older age, male sex, coma, seizures, and underlying comorbidities. Daniel Schoenfeld of Centro Diagnostico San Jorge in Puerto Madryn, Argentina, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on February 11. Argentina reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 3, 2020, and a national lockdown ...

Researchers find delirium in hospitalized patients linked to mortality, disability

Researchers find delirium in hospitalized patients linked to mortality, disability
2021-02-11
Delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction, is widespread in critically ill patients in lower resourced hospitals, and the duration of delirium predicted both mortality and disability at six months after discharge, according to a study published in PLOS ONE. Working with partners in Zambia, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers evaluated 711 hospitalized critically ill patients; delirium occurred in 48.5%. The findings shed light on the impact of delirium on a patient's recovery -- and even whether a patient is likely to live or die. There have been limited data on the prevalence and outcomes of delirium ...

Gender gap: Women represent two-thirds of doctorates, only one-third of academic jobs

Gender gap: Women represent two-thirds of doctorates, only one-third of academic jobs
2021-02-11
Women today represent two-thirds of all Canadian doctorates in archaeology, but only one-third of Canadian tenure-stream faculty. While men with Canadian PhDs have done well in securing tenure-track jobs in Canada over the past 15 years, women have not, according to a new study from McGill University. The current COVID-19 pandemic is likely to exacerbate these existing inequalities. Published in American Antiquity, the study is the first to follow archaeologists from graduate school to faculty positions to determine when women are exiting the academic track. It's also the first to explore grant applications and the success rates of women in Canadian archaeology. "A 'chilly climate' exists for women in academia. ...

US cities segregated not just by where people live, but where they travel daily

2021-02-11
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- One thing that decades of social science research has made abundantly clear? Americans in urban areas live in neighborhoods deeply segregated by race -- and they always have. Less clear, however, is whether city-dwellers stay segregated when they leave home and go about their daily routines. That's a question to which Jennifer Candipan, an assistant professor of sociology at Brown University, was determined to find an answer. By analyzing geotagged locations for more than 133 million tweets by 375,000 Twitter users in the 50 largest U.S. cities, Candipan and a team of researchers found that in most urban areas, people of different races don't just live in different neighborhoods -- they also eat, drink, shop, socialize and travel ...

Want to hire more women? Expand your short list

2021-02-11
ITHACA, N.Y. - As more male-dominated industries look for ways to hire women, new Cornell University research offers employers a simple solution - make your initial job candidate short list longer. Many professional advancement opportunities - jobs, promotions, trainings and mentorships - are filled through informal recruitment practices. But these practices pose an unintended barrier to gender diversity in male-dominant workplaces because when hiring managers consult their "mental Rolodex," they are more likely to associate certain jobs with specific genders. "Our research investigates informal short lists," said Brian Lucas, assistant ...

A new perceptually-consistent method for MSI visualization

A new perceptually-consistent method for MSI visualization
2021-02-11
Skoltech scientists have proposed a Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) method leveraging the unique features of human vision. The research was published in the journal Analytical Chemistry. High-resolution mass spectrometry is an analytical technique that accurately measures the mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of ions, produced from molecules by an ionization process, and the ion signal intensity (the relative number of ions). These measurements allow determining molecules' weights and structure, (by fragmenting them), thereby identifying various compounds, such as proteins, lipids, metabolites, ...

Facts on the ground: How microplastics in the soil contribute to environmental pollution

Facts on the ground: How microplastics in the soil contribute to environmental pollution
2021-02-11
Plastic, with its unabated global production, is a major and persistent contributor to environmental pollution. In fact, the accumulation of plastic debris in our environment is only expected to increase in the future. "Microplastics" (MP)--plastic debris END ...

New ACIP Adult Immunization Schedule recommends changes to several vaccines, includes interim recomm

2021-02-11
Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent. New ACIP Adult Immunization Schedule recommends changes to several vaccines, includes interim recommendation for COVID-19 vaccination Revised content based on updated ACIP recommendations published since October, ...

Rebuilding soil microbiomes in high-tunnel agricultural systems focus of study

Rebuilding soil microbiomes in high-tunnel agricultural systems focus of study
2021-02-11
The presence of high salt and nitrogen concentrations in high- tunnel soils may make it more challenging to rebuild a healthy soil microbiome following a soil-clearing event, according to microbial ecologists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. Their research findings have important implications for soil fertility, and by extension, crop health and yield, explained Laura Kaminsky, a doctoral candidate in plant pathology, who led the investigation under the guidance of Terrence Bell, assistant professor of phytobiomes. "Plants generally grow better with an active and diverse community of bacteria, fungi and other microbes in the soil," she said. "If these microbes are wiped out by a soil-clearing ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Singapore launches national standard to validate antimicrobial disinfectant products

Molecular stool test could improve detection of tuberculosis in adults with HIV

Suspected fibrocartilaginous embolus in Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus)

Enhancing heat transfer using the turbulent flow of viscoelastic fluids

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

[Press-News.org] Neandertal genes alter neurodevelopment in modern human brain organoids